Chapter 81
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Chapter 81
"...How?"
He gazed at Vivian's eyes for a moment, deliberating, before ultimately lying.
"For now, I was thinking of checking the state of the barriers scattered throughout the Empire, and then finding a way forward."
The Demon Realm's barrier had been completed by grinding away a single life, so there was no way to restore it perfectly.
As long as the Emperor lived, we could never be completely free from the danger of war, so I couldn't tell her that I intended to kill him.
I didn't want to burden the child, already anxious from my absence, with even greater worries.
"Isn't that rather reckless?"
Vivian didn't deny it, even as a courtesy.
'Since you disappeared without explaining from the start and made me suffer so much, being reckless is fair!'
Instead, she grasped the hand of her father, who must have struggled so much on his own.
'The original story's ending drifted toward signs of war about to break out.'
Which meant that Dias ultimately failed to prevent the war.
After that, Vivian died before the war could begin, and only then did Allen come to his senses, march to war, and meet his own death.
But...
'The original story has already changed so much.'
I would no longer die from an incurable disease, Rachel was not a villain, and I had met Dias—someone I never encountered twice in the original story.
'So I can prevent the war too.'
Vivian gazed at Dias with eyes full of resolve.
"I want to help too. To prevent the war. So..."
Vivian spoke as she nestled into the embrace of her father, whom she had finally met again after twisting fate itself.
"Don't leave me behind anymore, Dad."
Dias, who had been momentarily dazed, pulled his still-small daughter close and answered.
"...Yes. I will."
A bittersweet glimmer crossed his gaze as he spoke, but Vivian, cradled in his arms, did not see it.
Only then, as if reassured, Vivian pulled away and asked.
"So have you examined all the barriers now? Did you find a way?"
Vivian's eyes, looking at me, already brimmed with enthusiasm.
Dias chuckled softly and stroked Vivian's head as he answered.
"There seems to be another way besides that."
"Another way?"
Vivian blinked with a puzzled expression as she looked up at her father, but Dias merely smiled enigmatically.
* * *
The next day, Lahedis, who had come down to the Dining Room first, was quenching his thirst.
Just as he set down his water glass, the Dining Room door opened and Vivian entered.
The shadow that had subtly lingered over her face just days ago had completely vanished.
"Good morning, Lahedis!"
"Good morning."
As Vivian and he exchanged greetings, his eyes met those of Dias, who had just followed her in.
Noticing that this was the first time the two had properly faced each other since the Hunting Festival yesterday, Vivian introduced them.
"Oh! Say hello, Curtis. This is the escort knight that the Princess sent."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hessen. I'm Lahedis."
Dias's eyes narrowed as he observed Lahedis offering the first greeting.
The primary reason Dias found Lahedis disagreeable was witnessing him embrace Vivian at the Hunting Ground yesterday, but there was another reason beyond that.
'His voice resembles that man.'
He sounded similar to the one who had come seeking Vivian a few days before the Hunting Festival began.
Not just the voice, but the build as well.
Since they had exchanged blows, the impression of that presence remained remarkably vivid in my memory.
'If that was truly him back then...'
The thought that someone possessing strength equal to my own might be targeting Vivian struck me with genuine alarm for the first time.
An ominous premonition that I might have to surrender my daughter to such a formidable man.
"This is our first meeting... isn't it?"
"Perhaps."
Lahedis replied with composure and offered a faint smile.
Though the two men merely gazed at each other, a subtle and tense current flowed between them.
Vivian, sensing the peculiar atmosphere between them, tilted her head in confusion.
"Do you two know each other?"
"...No. Father must have been mistaken."
Dias brushed it off and took a seat beside Vivian.
If he were to explain when he had encountered Lahedis, he would also have to explain why he hadn't come to see Vivian immediately afterward.
'Yet that face is strangely familiar.'
When they had met in the back alley, the man had been wearing a robe that obscured his features, but his face seemed oddly recognizable now.
It was as I was studying Lahedis's face intently, searching my memory.
The dining room door opened, and Kaltz entered.
Vivian's expression brightened as she greeted him first.
"Good morning, Duke."
"It seems you and your father have had a pleasant reunion."
"Thanks to you. I'm grateful you brought him back safely without losing him."
"Grateful for what? I boasted that I would find him, yet it was you who discovered him—I merely brought him along."
"Still."
As the conversation between Vivian and Kaltz was drawing to a close, Dias, who had been listening silently, interjected with mild protest.
"'Brought him back'? The way you say it makes it sound as though I'm some criminal, Princess."
"You are a criminal. You burned my heart black with worry, and what? Even with ten mouths, you'd have nothing to say for yourself, Dias Hessen."
As the father and daughter bickered, servants brought out the meal.
"Let us eat."
Once the meal began, Dias barely touched his food, his gaze fixed solely upon his daughter.
His demeanor resembled that of a parent watching over a child still learning to eat.
Kaltz inwardly clicked his tongue at Dias's besotted behavior.
'When he left Vivian in my care and drifted apart, where was this devotion? Now he's utterly smitten.'
He had hoped for Dias's return, pitying Vivian as she alone burned with worry over her father, but now witnessing him clinging so closely to her side, the sight was unbearable.
Lahedis was also watching Vivian and her father, and though not quite as disapproving as I was, he clearly found Dias Hessen distasteful.
Kaltz, unable to bear the sight any longer, let out a dry cough.
"Ahem, Vivian. Are you going to the Imperial Palace today?"
"Ah, the Marquis told me to rest until today and then come."
"You're planning to stay in the Capital for a while longer?"
At that question, Vivian glanced sideways at Dias Hessen before answering.
"I have something to do with my father. I think I'll be in the Capital for a while."
"That's good to hear."
I'd been troubled by the fact that she went to the Imperial Palace every day and I couldn't even take her on a single outing to the outskirts.
"Is there anything I can help with?"
When Vivian hesitated to answer and looked toward Dias Hessen instead, he answered in her stead.
"I've already imposed upon your kindness more than enough. I don't think it's right to burden you further, so I'm planning to take Vivian away from here soon."
At Dias Hessen's declaration, the hands of Kaltz and Lahedis, who had been cutting meat, froze mid-motion.
Lahedis, who had been quietly listening to the conversation all along, narrowed his brow and opened his mouth.
"That doesn't sound like a good idea. There's no safer residence in the Capital than the Duke's Residence."
"That's right. Besides, there are already several mouths to feed attached to this Estate, so what's a couple more going to do—bankrupt the family?"
Even with Kaltz joining in to dissuade him, Dias Hessen's resolve remained stubborn.
"I'm grateful for your kind intentions alone."
With that, the conversation concluded with Dias Hessen and Vivian leaving the Estate soon, and the meal came to an end.
"Thank you for the meal!"
Just as Vivian and Dias Hessen rose from their seats after finishing their meal.
"Dias Hessen, you stay for a moment."
After sending out Vivian and Lahedis, who looked at me with confusion, only Dias Hessen and Kaltz remained in the Dining Room.
Once Vivian disappeared, Kaltz now openly glared at Dias Hessen with displeasure.
Despite that piercing gaze, Dias Hessen picked up the teacup before him with shameless composure and spoke first.
"If you scold me, Vivian will dislike you."
At that, Kaltz's gaze grew even sharper.
Now, the way Dias Hessen invoked Vivian's name was utterly infuriating.
"Where have you been all this time, abandoning such an innocent child?"
"I had some matters to attend to."
"You were monitoring the Emperor's every move, weren't you."
At Kaltz's words that struck the heart of the matter, Dias Hessen's hand, which had been tilting the teacup leisurely, came to a halt.
"I won't ask for reasons or plans."
....
"But whatever you're thinking, whatever scheme you're plotting... don't do anything that would bring tears to that child's eyes."
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